Further Daily News Release

Community partnerships play an important part in the effectiveness of police services. All of us – police, government, businesses, and ordinary citizens – must work together when it comes to public safety, crime prevention, and community engagement and mobilization, as we want everyone to enjoy the benefits of a safe community.

The Chatham-Kent Police Service (CKPS) collaborates with many organizations and agencies in the community to meet our mission, vision and values. Many are very aware CKPS works closely with agencies such as the Chatham-Kent Victim Services, Chatham-Kent Restorative Justice and The Children’s Safety Village but there are so many others that are lesser known.

CKPS is one of 25 team members of the Fast Intervention Risk Specific Team (FIRST), which provides a process for a collaborative, integration approach to bring services directly to families, individuals and neighbourhoods facing situations of acutely elevated risk. (For more information on FIRST go to http://ckfirst.ca/ ) CKPS also team up with many citizen-driven wellness and awareness committees such as East Side Pride, The Chatham Central Neighbourhood Association, The Blenheim Community Policing and Neighbourhood Watch Committee, Chatham-Kent Drug Awareness Council and Tilbury Drug Awareness Team, to assist these groups with public safety issues that affect the health and safety of all our communities.

For the week of May 13-19, 2018 each day, we will feature an agency or group you may not have known were one of our community partners.

“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress;
working together is success:” – Henry Ford

In recognition of Police Week, Chatham Kent Police Services celebrate the many partnerships that we have invested in, as strong advocates for working together to make our community of Chatham Kent, safe and a place that we can all be proud to call home.

This week, we also celebrate Mental Health Week, which seems to be a fitting time to recognize Youth Officer, Constable Derek Shaw who has been involved with the ACCESS Open Minds, Youth Mental Health Hub since its planning stages in 2015.

Integrated VP of Mental Health and Addictions at CMHA, Paula Reaume-Zimmer shares that “Constable Shaw is a true champion for Youth Wellness, he has been personally involved in getting youth to the help they need, as soon as concerns arise, and has observed firsthand the benefits that youth and their families have, when there is a sense of connection and relief that they know where to turn when they are looking for MH services.”

Constable Shaw also works closely with many other partners including Chatham Kent Children’s Services, the education sector and many others. His familiarity and collaborative working relationship with community resources has improved his ability to respond to issues in his Youth Officer role, influencing youth toward safe lifestyle choices that avoid or divert any involvement in the criminal justice system. Reaume-Zimmer also added “We have been extremely fortunate in our community. For more than 10 years, the CKPS have been recognized locally, provincially and even nationally as leaders in partnering to better meet the needs individuals requiring mental health and addictions services.”